Michael Heckmeier, executive vice president and head of Display Solutions at Merck / Courtesy of Merck Korea

By Baek Byung-yeul

Merck has been working on developing display materials and expanding its production facilities in Korea to further strengthen partnerships with Korean display companies, which possess industry-leading technology, according to the head of the company's display unit.

Michael Heckmeier, executive vice president and head of Display Solutions at the Germany-based company, believes that Korea will continue to lead the display industry, saying that Merck will continue to invest and conduct research activities in Korea to provide display makers here with specialized services.

"As with the successful strategy of achieving success through domestic research and production of liquid crystals in the past, Merck began to lay the foundation for R&D, production and the stable supply of OLED materials to Korean panel makers in 2005. We are continuously interacting with OLED researchers from Korean panel companies so that Korea can continue to lead OLED technology, and we are developing materials for OLED TV and flexible, rollable and foldable OLED with customers," Heckmeier told The Korea Times in a recent written interview.

"Recently, we decided to invest in new equipment to improve the analysis and quality inspection capabilities of OLED materials. This is to provide specialized services to Korean customers and we expect to commence stable operations this year," he said.

"We are also planning to add an OLED process simulator to the development process. This is a simulator specifically for studying the correlation between OLED materials and process properties which occur in the process of deposition. The reason for adding these simulators to the development process is to predict possible defects caused by materials in the customer's manufacturing process and develop improved materials based on this," the head of the display business said.

Merck's OLED material equipment installed at its Pyeongtaek facility in Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of Merck Korea

Merck has continuously emphasized that it thinks of the Korean market as one of its core partners as the country serves as the hub for product research and manufacturing.

The company's Korean unit said Thursday that the company completed an expansion of its OLED material producing facility in Poseung Industrial Complex in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, June 8.

The completion of the expansion of the facility came after the company announced its 25-billion-won ($19.9 million) investment plan in the facility in October 2020. The investment was used to establish a module-based production system that can conduct sublimation processes, a core procedure in OLED materials production processes.

As devices that adopt OLED technologies, such as foldable and rollable displays, are increasing in the market, Merck decided to expand its production capacity in related fields in Asia to meet the growing demand for OLED materials.

"We have invested around 20 million euros, which is around 25 billion won, to install sublimation equipment and OLED vacuum deposition units at our OLED Application Center (OAC) in Poseung, Korea. With the installation of the new equipment, we aim to innovate closer to customers to deliver high-quality and high-purity materials to advance display technologies," Heckmeier said.

With the expansion of the facility, Korean display makers will be able to secure a stable supply of OLED materials at a time when companies are struggling with global supply disruptions.

"The investment is also expected to ease the supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 in the rapidly growing OLED market and build supply agility and resilience for our customers. By bringing production closer to customers, we also commit to a more sustainable future. We reduce the product carbon footprint with the shortest supply routes, expanded capacity for circular material flows and adoption of latest production technologies," the executive vice president added.